


The Interview

by pigeonking



Category: Doctor Who
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-06 03:39:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10324784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pigeonking/pseuds/pigeonking
Summary: This story is essentially based on the premise of what if Sarah Jane Smith met the Master before The Five Doctors, but did not know it...





	

Sarah Jane Smith sat in the waiting room patiently. She had only been in there five minutes, but the symptoms of boredom were already starting to creep in. It had only been a day since the Doctor had returned her to Earth since their little ‘holiday’ trip to Florana. Some holiday that had been! On the way there they had been forced into a little detour to the planet Exxilon which had been ‘fun’ to say the least; then when they had finally got to Florana with its effervescent water and air like a ‘magic-potion’, there had been that bizarre incident involving the Chelonian Hungry Bomb.

Upon arriving back on Earth, Sarah had decided that she needed a little holiday to help her get over the one she just had. The Brigadier had been waiting for the Doctor when the TARDIS had landed in its corner in the UNIT laboratory, and he had dragged the Time Lord away stating an incident of ‘national emergency’. Sarah had wondered how long the Brigadier had been standing there, just waiting for the TARDIS to bring back his valued scientific advisor. She hoped it hadn’t been long.

With the Doctor off helping the Brigadier, Sarah had gone home and enjoyed a lovely hot shower and a good night’s sleep.

The following morning she had gotten up feeling refreshed. She had turned on the television and seen the news about the ongoing mystery surrounding the disappearance of several people across the country, including a number of high ranking politicians. Apparently the only thinking that linked all of the missing people was the fact that they had all been eating the same new brand of jelly before they had disappeared.

“How odd!” Sarah had remarked. She felt that there was a story here somewhere and at that moment her journalistic instincts had gone into overdrive.

It had been relatively easy for her to secure an interview with the managing director of the company who distributed this mysterious jelly, a Mr Roger Masterson.

Dressed in the same brown trouser suit that she had been wearing that faithful day when she had first met the Doctor, Sarah had set out to get her interview and hopefully some answers.

Now here she sat, waiting for the secretary to allow her in to see Mr Masterson. As she waited she flicked through a copy of Metropolitan magazine, one that she often contributed to and sure enough she found one of her old articles in there. Sarah cringed as she read through a passage of her old work. She hoped that her writing style had come on a bit since then.

The secretary’s intercom buzzed and a garbled electronic voice came out of it.

“Yes, Mr Masterson, right away.” The secretary sounded almost robotic in her reply.

The secretary looked up at Sarah and flashed an eerie smile, as if she were doing it purely because she felt it was the correct thing to do.

“Mr Masterson will see you now, Miss Smith.” The secretary intoned in her robotic voice, though the smile never left her face.

“Thank you.” Sarah attempted to smile back, but couldn’t quite manage it. She flopped the old magazine back onto the coffee table and stood up. For some unfathomable reason Sarah felt a little nervous and apprehensive as she crossed the room and knocked on the door to Masterson’s office.

“Do come in!” came the reply from inside, a crisp, polite and cultured voice like liquid velvet.

Sarah entered and closed the door behind her.

The office that Sarah walked into was neat and sparse. There was nothing in it that was not needed. A large oak desk dominated the centre of the office. The desk sat in front of a huge window that was currently obscured by blinds. A tall grey filing cabinet that looked big enough for a man to walk into stood in the right hand corner, also behind the desk and to the left there was a smaller cabinet on which sat a fish tank that contained a strange looking fish that Sarah was sure she’d never seen anywhere before, though she could never claim to be an expert on fish.

A smartly dressed man was standing in front of the fish tank, looking in at the fish and making baby noises at it. He turned away from the tank when Sarah came in and the young journalist was struck by the powerful hypnotic pull of his dark, piercing eyes. Roger Masterson had slicked back black hair that was going slightly grey at the temples and he sported a neatly trimmed goatee beard that was also speckled with grey. Despite the warm smile that Masterson greeted her with, Sarah could not help feeling slightly intimidated in his presence.

“My dear, Miss Smith. What a pleasure it is to meet you.” Masterson offered his hand and Sarah shook it. His grip was as firm and powerful as he looked.

“Please do make yourself comfortable and take a seat.” Masterson gestured at the chair in front of the desk and Sarah obligingly sat down.

Masterson moved round behind the desk and took his own seat.

“Fascinating creatures, fish, don’t you agree? Their lives are a constant struggle for survival, but they always find a way to adapt to whatever nature throws at them. Take my pet as an example. Not a very big or imposing fish, you might agree, but it possesses the unique ability to elongate its jaws, much like a snake, so that it can swallow fish that are nearly twice its size. So you see, it doesn’t always pay to be the bigger fish!” Masterson chuckled as if he found this amusing.

Sarah just found it creepy.

“That’s very interesting, Mr Masterson, but I haven’t come here to talk about fish.” She replied tactfully.

“No, you haven’t, have you!” the smile never left Masterson’s face, “I imagine you’ve come here to question me about the ridiculous notion that the product that my firm produces is in some way connected to the recent spate of disappearances across the country, is that not so, Miss Smith?”

“Well you have to admit that it’s an amazing coincidence that everyone that has disappeared was found to have been eating your jelly before they went missing.” Sarah replied.

“I’m glad you used that word, Miss Smith. Coincidence, because that’s exactly what it is. Nothing more.” Masterson assured her. He started to chuckle again. “To think that something so harmless and incongruous as jelly could be responsible for people disappearing… why it’s utterly absurd!”

Sarah took out a tape recorder from her handbag and switched it on.

“If you have nothing to hide then I’m sure you won’t mind if I record the rest of our conversation?” she enquired.

“Not at all, Miss Smith!” Masterson spread his hands magnanimously, “As you say, I have nothing to hide!”

Masterson’s pleasant charm was starting to irritate Sarah. What was that old saying? ‘More flies with honey.’ It was as if Masterson was trying to lure her into a false sense of security. Well it wasn’t going to work on her!

“I did a little research into the history of Gerald’s Gelatines before I came here.” Sarah told him, “The original founder of the company went missing himself around six weeks ago and you have been running the place ever since. It just so happens that the first disappearances occurred only a week after that. Is that a coincidence as well, Mr Masterson?”

Masterson was no longer smiling and he seemed to be visibly squirming in his chair.

“Well, well, Miss Smith! You have been doing your homework, haven’t you?” even through his scowl Masterson endeavoured to maintain his charm offensive.

“All part of being a good journalist, Mr Masterson.” Sarah beamed back at him smugly.

“Indeed!” Masterson agreed. He got up out of his chair and turned his back on her to peer through the blinds at the factory floor below.

“What if I were to tell you that Gerald Constantin is an old friend of mine and that I’m looking after his business for him while he’s away on a long deserved holiday?” he told Sarah while his back was still turned.

“That’s rather convenient, don’t you think? I don’t suppose he left a phone number that he could be reached on in an emergency?” Sarah asked.

Masterson turned to face her again and the smile had returned to his face. He sat down again.

“I’m afraid not, Miss Smith. He was very adamant that he wished no one to disturb him while he was on holiday. Naturally I agreed to respect his wishes.”

“Naturally.” Sarah repeated, sounding not too convinced.

It was then that Masterson fixed her with his intense stare and his voice took on a hypnotic tone.

“You really mustn’t concern yourself with such trivial coincidences, Miss Smith. There is no story to be found here. Do you understand me? No story to be found here!”

For a moment Sarah found herself zoning out…

“No story to be found here.” She repeated robotically.

Something in the back of her mind screamed at her: ‘This is absurd of course there’s something going on here!’

Sarah shook her head and the cloudiness left her brain. She gripped her handbag determinedly and met Masterson’s gaze without flinching.

“Of course there’s a story here and I intend to find out exactly what it is!” Sarah shouted at him.

Masterson recoiled from her, a look of pure naked fury on his face. He seemed to visibly restrain himself, as if at that moment he wanted nothing more than to reach over the desk and violently assault her.

Sarah was suddenly very frightened of Mr Roger Masterson. All she wanted to do right at this very moment was get up and just leave.

Masterson was on his feet again and back at the window, as if he needed the distraction to prevent him from doing anything too drastic.

“I’m afraid I must ask you to leave, Miss Smith. I find your line of questioning deeply offensive and I would warn you not to look any deeper into this.” Masterson said; all pretence at charm completely forgotten.

“Are you threatening me, Mr Masterson?” Sarah asked angrily.

“I will not answer any further questions!” Masterson ignored her. He was peering through the blinds again and didn’t seem pleased at what he saw out there.

Sarah found herself wishing she could see what he saw. Should she risk getting up to look through the blinds herself?

No, she decided, she should leave now and come back again later with the Doctor. Surely this would be something that he would want to look into as well.

Sarah switched off her tape recorder and replaced it into her bag. She got up and headed for the door.

“Good bye, Mr Masterson. I wish I could say that it was a pleasure meeting you.” She said, but Masterson was too engrossed by whatever he saw through the window to pay her any heed.

She left.

As Sarah was walking down the corridor back to the exit that would take her back to her car, she fancied that she heard a noise. It sounded rather like the sound that the TARDIS made when it was materialising or dematerialising, but that wasn’t possible. Was it? Sarah shrugged, dismissing it as imagination and then she left the building.

 

When Sarah arrived at UNIT HQ she showed the guard at the gate her pass and he let her in.

“You might have to wait a bit though, Miss.” The soldier had said, “The Doctor isn’t in at the moment.”

“It’s alright, I don’t mind waiting.” Sarah had smiled back at him, probably making his day.

Sarah parked up her car and made her way straight to the Doctor’s laboratory. The familiar blue shape of the TARDIS greeted her in its corner as she walked in.

“Well at least he’s still on this planet.” Sarah remarked to herself with a grin.

She fixed herself a cup of coffee and then settled down on a bench to await the Doctor’s return.

 

About an hour and a half later Sarah heard the Doctor coming back before she saw him.

“No, no, no, Brigadier! You know very well that I do not waste my time on trivial matters such as paperwork!”

The Doctor came bursting into the laboratory, resplendent in his green velvet jacket and frilly white shirt. The Brigadier was hot on his heels.

“Surely you can spare the time, just this once, Doctor!” the Brigadier was shouting at him, but he had that mischievous twinkle in his eye as he was doing it. He knew full well that the Doctor would not agree to anything so mundane as paperwork, but it pleased the Brigadier to wind his old friend up about it nevertheless.

“For the last time, no! I’ve got much more important matters to be dealing with.” The Doctor chided.

Then he saw Sarah for the first time as she regarded the two men with an amused smile.

The Doctor’s face softened and he smiled too.

“Hello, Sarah. You haven’t been waiting long, I hope?” he asked.

The Brigadier stood by patiently.

“Oh no, not long at all!” Sarah replied drily, “Only an hour and a half of my time wasted, never to be returned to me again.”

“Let me make it up to you, my dear!” the Doctor offered, “I know a lovely little café in seventeenth Century Paris we could go to for a spot of lunch.”

“Looks like I’ll be doing the paperwork all by myself again.” The Brigadier sighed with a knowing smirk. And with those words he departed the laboratory.

“Paperwork for what?” Sarah wondered curiously, she had practically forgotten her whole purpose in being there since the Doctor had walked in. “What have you been up to?”

“The Brigadier and I have just returned from raiding a Gelatine factory that was the base of an alien conspiracy to take over the whole planet.” The Doctor told her.

Sarah couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It seems that the Doctor had been working on the same thing that she had all along.

“A Gelatine factory?” Sarah asked, feigning ignorance.

“Yes, I know, it does sound odd doesn’t it!” the Doctor laughed. “If you’ve seen any news since we got back from our little trip, then you may have seen the story about the people who have been going missing. The only thing each person had in common was the fact that prior to their disappearance they had all been eating the same brand of jelly. A jelly that was made at the very same factory that we raided this afternoon.”

“How extraordinary!” Sarah exclaimed dutifully, “Do go on!”

“Well you see that was why the Brigadier dragged me off when we got back yesterday. He’s been investigating the disappearances ever since a couple of high ranking politicians became the latest ones to disappear about two days ago. It was Sergeant Benton who noticed the connection with jelly, believe it or not and the Brigadier had been waiting for me to come back so that I could analyse a sample of the jelly that they’d collected from one of the crime scenes.” The Doctor continued obligingly, though he needed little encouragement.

“What did you find out?” Sarah wondered, genuinely curious now.

“Let me tell you, Sarah… that was no ordinary jelly. Oh no, when I put it under a microscope I found that it was actually a living organism. To be exact it was an example of a parasitic species known as the Gestalt. Each small organism is just a part of an even bigger whole that operates and communicates using a hive mind, rather like bees in a hive.” The Doctor told her.

“But I don’t understand. How can these Gestalt have been making people disappear if all they are is blobs of jelly?” Sarah asked.

“Well the Gestalt had a human agent that brought them to Earth…” the Doctor started to explain.

Yes I think I know who that was, Sarah thought to herself before returning her attention to the Doctor.

“This agent was packaging up pieces of the Gestalt and sending out free samples to people. Trying out a new product was the cover story, I believe. When these people received their free jelly samples and ingested it, what they were actually doing was taking a parasitic life form into their bodies. Once it was in there the piece of the Gestalt was able to take control of its human host and pilot it around like some sort of organic space ship on two legs.”

“That sounds horrible!” Sarah shuddered, “So what happened to all these people?”

“Once they were under the control of the Gestalt they made their way to the factory where the main organism was being kept and there they were able to help further the invasion plans. Once they knew that they could control the human body easily enough they were able to send out samples to more strategically sound targets.” The Doctor explained.

“Like the politicians that went missing!” Sarah realised.

“Top of the class, Sarah. Yes, when the time was right they would have sent those Gestalt controlled politicians back out to affect changes that would enable them to subtly take control of first this country and then eventually… the entire planet Earth!”

“It’s a good thing you put a stop to it then!” Sarah beamed.

“Yes, well… as soon as I realised what we were dealing with the Brigadier was able to secure a warrant to raid the factory. When we arrived we found all of the missing people working in there under Gestalt control. They tried to stop us from getting near the main organism which was being kept in a vat in the centre of the factory. The Brigadier and his men couldn’t use lethal force obviously, but I had, of course anticipated that we would meet resistance in this manner and instructed the Brigadier to arm his men with tranquiliser darts. That way he was able to subdue those being controlled by the Gestalt without harming them. And then I was able to subdue the main organism using a machine that I managed to cobble together in this very laboratory. I was able to open a localised time vortex under the creature to send it somewhere else where it couldn’t cause any trouble. Once the main organism was gone the smaller creatures died and were expelled from their unconscious hosts. Unfortunately, the fellow that brought the creature here in the first place managed to get away. The Brigadier is going to be on the look-out, just in case he returns. I wonder what possessed this Gerald Constantin to aid such a dangerous organism in the first place?” the Doctor mused as he finished his explanation.

Sarah could barely suppress a smile. So the Doctor knew nothing of Roger Masterson. Clearly his research had not been quite as extensive as hers.

“I guess we’ll never know!” she replied with a knowing smile.

 

**The End**


End file.
